ASK TIA TENOPIA – 02/01/2011

I have what may seem to be a stupid question. How do you pronounce “Latinopia?”

Kay Seyo

Burque, NM

Dear Tia Tenopia:

I am a proud Boricua, Puerto Rican, from the Bronx! I can’t help but notice that much of the material on Latinopia.com is skewed to Mexicano and Chicano experience. What gives?

Maria Quieresaber

Bronx, New York

Dear Mija:

Pues, que verguenza and my deepest apologies! La verdad is that I am twentieth generation Chicana, my ancestors settled in South Texas in the early 1700s. Like your Taino ancestors we were all here before there was a United States of America. Disculpa, but its natural that the first things you see here would be drawn from my personal experiences. We’re also based in Los Angeles, eso te dice mucho. But don’t worry. We totally embrace the wonderful eclectic (hay mira como me avienteo con las palabras!) family of La Raza. In the coming months we fully expect to reach out and include articles and videos from the rich history, art, music, culture and food from the Puerto Rican, Cuban, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Colombian and other Latino experiences in the United States. As we say in Aztlán, danos chanza, give us a chance. Remember, the wonderful city of San Juan wasn’t built in a day!

Dear Tia Tenopia:

Okay, so I get it that Latinopia is a cute Latino site for music and art. But I am a serious historian. I want to be able to recommend Latinopia to my students. How do I know that all the facts on Latinopia are true? What kind of rigorous scholarship are you exacting to guarantee credible scholarly acumen? What about the timelines? Where are your footnotes? Your ibids and e.g.’s? What kind of scholarship is this anyway?

Prof. Wilfrid Artemious Hernandez, III.

Berkeley, CA

Dear Mijo,

I have a nephew who is a Profe. Y hay como estudia I truly respect the many years you all have spent in your studies to achieve your degrees. And we are all proud that our Raza now has Ph.D.’s and professors and scholars. Well, I am only a Tia from the barrio, but I think we did our homework. If you look at the Research Credits section of our Latinopia site, you’ll see a listing of the many literary, scholarly, historical and other works which have informed our timelines, articles, interviews and postings. We believe that everything on our Latinopia is truthful, verdad de Díos. But if you don’t believe us, well then do your own research, mijo. Qúe? we should do all the work for you? No seas flojo! If you have serious concerns about our scholarship, why don’t you have your students fact check everything in our timelines and article and if you find anything that’s not correct, pues let us know and we will correct it. And congratulations for teaching our children. Education is the most essential thing for the future of La Raza!

Dear Tia Tenopia:

I loved the vintage footage in the Latinopia Events videos and I just realized that I have some old Super-8 footage of some marches back in the day. And I also have some photos of me and César Chávez that would go great for a Moment in Time. I would like to contribute them to the Latinopia site. How do I do it?

Soldado de La Raza

San Antonio, Tejas, Aztlán

Dear Mijo,

Hay, how we love photos and videos of our gente! Latinopia.com welcomes your contributions to our growing archive of images about the Latino experience in the United States. Mira Mijo, our policy is that we YOU retain the copyright on any materials you contribute. All we request is your permi granting us the right to post the image, video, film or photo on the Latinopia site and to use the material on videos we are developing for the site. Por supuesto, you’ll credited. Sabes que? We are also open to posting completed films or videos, check out the Ltinopia Showcase. Again, you retain the copyright, you give us your permi to post it on Latinopia, and then we link to your own website so you can sell the video yourself. Mijo, it’s a win-win situation, qué no?

Dear Tia Tenopia:

Hey, with all of these videos, why don’t you do original dramas about Latino life in the United States? I am an aspiring Latina filmmaker and have a great screenplay that is burning to be made into a webisode!

Connie Con Camera

Los Angeles, CA

Dear Mija,

Pos para ya vamos! Yes, in the coming months we’ll be launching a Premiere Subscription to Latinopia which will guarantee you special features including original webisode dramas produced especially for Latinopia. Como dicen en la tele, stay tuned!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO DONATE MATERIALS TO LATINOPIAUSA.COM OR FOR INQUIRIES WRITE TO: Latinopiausa.Com, P.O. Box 41796, Los Angeles, CA 90041.

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